MEET OLIVER CROSS

PGA PROFESSIONAL

OLIVER'S STORY

Oliver qualified as PGA Professional in July 2013, received AA status in November 2016 and is now working towards his Level 3 Coaching Qualification. He is currently Head Professional at Brough Golf Club, which he uses as a base to not only coach a wide range of clients but also targets schools across East Yorkshire to deliver SNAG (Starting New At Golf) as part of the curriculum and extra curriculum.

Oliver’s aim is to introduce golf in a way that breaks down perceived barriers to participation in the sport by creating a programme which is fun, easy to learn and builds skills that can be used in all areas of life.

PHILOSOPHY

Through my own experience playing and also coaching I have built up my own beliefs of what has been successful when teaching and playing.

Keep things simple

Our brains cannot function effectively when asked to do more than two things at once. When you have a lesson with me regardless of what faults you may have I will start with what I believe is necessary to begin the process of successful development and improvement. You will never go away with more than two coaching points to work on. Try and do those two things really well before moving on. I see so many people who have come to me for a lesson with a list as long as their arm of faults they believe are hindering them. My question is, how do you think of all of those nevermind try to do those things whilst swing a club at x mph within x seconds?

Focus on Process not Result

Your golf score will take care of itself if you look after the other areas surrounding golf such as what I call the 4 Quadrants; nutrition, fitness, psychology and technique. Spread your time evenly between these four areas and you golf scores will naturally reduce, they have to???

Driving range/Practice area VS Golf Course

I will never tell you that technique is not important, it is fundamental but there is a time and a place for working and improving your swing. That is to be done on the driving range/practice area. The golf course is a place where you solely want to be focussing on trying to get the ball in each hole in the least number of shots. So why would you think of your swing during this time?? All this is doing is distracting you from the main goal of scoring surely? You will be amazed how much more consistent you become if you trust your ability.

Distracting the conscious mind and letting the unconscious mind do its thing
We need a way to control the temptation to think negatively, or about the swing and these thoughts come from the conscious mind. If we can get the conscious mind focusing on something productive that won’t affect the unconscious mind then it will prevent interference during your shot. A solid pre shot routine is very simple but so effective for this.

Pre shot routine is not optional – This is not an option that should be considered for a golfer. It should be a part of their golf ammunition, ‘the 14th club’ some may say. Everyone has their own unique routine that will be useful to them specifically. Everything involved in a players routine has to have a purpose that is effective to them and can be repeated on every shot to prepare them as much as possible to be able to hit their perfect shot in a given situation.

ABOUT

Based at Brough Golf Club, Oliver delivers various golf coaching services to all ages and abilities throughout East Yorkshire.
Photography by Alastair Harmer